The Ferdiad Cycle

The Six Swords

The Six Swords

By midday we arrived at the border of Dún Éiden, where we found Branden questioning the border guards. I was relieved to find the young ranger well, although extremely tired – it seemed that he had marched days without proper rest. We paid the standard toll of one copper piece for each leg passing through the border. Luckily the guards did not wish to search our wagons as they would have found Rhoderick tied up there. Having a cleric and a paladin with a group does wonders for your credibility.

I immediately noticed that Branden was upset and nervous about something. I tried to break the ice by telling about everything that had happened to us during our time apart, and about the treacherous cleric in our wagon. The ranger listened silently and shortly explained what he had been doing and that he was now chasing the six riders that had captured the fair ’’mare’’ he had rescued from the Hillpeople.

We continued our journey without further speech. I was puzzled by all the events and tried to piece out a bigger picture out of all this. Branden was reluctant to pause for breaks and was always anxious to move on. As we continued forward we saw that Dún Éiden was a wealthy province: the roads and guard-posts were well taken care of.

By nightfall we arrived to Eseldin, a typical small village found in the north. Branden reluctantly agreed to rest for the night as he was too worn out to continue. I saw it was hard for him to admit that he was too tired to continue his hunt. We paid for a room at the inn and tried to rest as best as we could. Grzegorz went back to the woods to collect herbs, Camil enjoyed the food at the inn, and Aeran paid for a barber. I stayed in my room thinking. I had not told Branden about the dreadful prophecy Ferdiad had told us about the ranger some days ago: ‘’You will all betray him, and he will die because of you’‘. The thought of telling about him about it chilled me, but then again wouldn’t it break the spell of the prophecy if we all knew about it?

I slept uneasily that night.

Day 50

29th of Giamonios, 1270

Branden woke up early and hasted us to move along. We ate a quick breakfast at the inn and left the picturesque little village. We discussed about the events Branden had witnessed and wondered about the mystical parts of his story. Was the fair ’’mare’’ a prophet? Who cast the silencing spells when the ’’mare’’ had been captured from the thane’s house? Was it the strange clerics we had met earlier, or was there a reason to suspect that Enid might have some part in all of this? She had told Branden that Ross magh Connacht had found out that there was someone leaking secret information to the enemy. What if it was Enid all along? I didn’t think that very plausible, but my friends seemed untrustful towards the femme fatale.

However things were, I was certain that these six riders were part of the same strange clergy that had tried to capture Ferdiad and Davy from us before. If they were heading towards Caern Môrn, we would surely bump into them eventually.

At eve we arrived at the outskirts of the great northern capital, Caern Môrn. The sight was impressive: it seemed like a mountain had risen out of nowhere on the northern plains, and someone had cut it horizontally in half at the middle with a single clean strike. The city had been built on top of the strange mountain, it’s mighty walls making each of us feel like ants. Four roads rose up the mountain slopes in each cardinal direction, leading up to the city.

The roads were crowded with people. Everyone wished to enter the city as the king himself had arrived there. We entered the long queue leading towards the city. It was obvious that it would take a while for the line to get to the gates.

As we waited for the queue to slowly move I talked with the merchants and peasants who were queuing there with us about local news: I heard that there were many important people attending a sudden meeting here. An old merchant told me that there were four thanes present: Robert magh Connacht, the Watcher of the northern provinces; Devin magh Keeth, the thane of Korgath; and two other northern thanes, the thane of Iweirden and Pynwedd. The king had called them and many other leaders of powerful clans in hopes of averting further infighting spurred by the assassinations in {{Glenwathen]]. Apparently it hadn’t taken long for the northern nobles to start grasping for the position of thane, and many others were already fighting out old blood-feuds when no-one was keeping a watch. Word had it that Eneir magh Eirc had refused to attend the meeting, but had given his word to abide by the king’s decision of who would be the new thane of Ystrod.

Other than that we learned little else. Nobody had seen the six riders arriving, although that didn’t mean they could not have used another entrance, or used their status as clerics to pass by the lines. We spent the night queuing and slept on the wagon, taking turns at moving the wagon each time the line moved forward.

Day 51

30th of Giamonios, 1270

By morning we began to get close to the gate. We saw that the guards inspected everyone and every cart and wagon entering the city, and realised we wouldn’t get past the guards with a tied up cleric in our wagon. We hastily desided to drive the wagon on the side of the road, pretending it had broken down. Branden and I continued to move forward along the line while the rest of the group waited on the side of the road.

Branden and I got through the gate without any problems. The guards inspected us and found us safe to enter the city. As we entered the city I instantly noticed that the streets were really clean and everything seemed to be in good shape. I wondered whether the Watcher had prepared the city for the king or was it always so clean in here. Even the air itself seemed fresh and free of the stench emitted by large settlements. The main street we arrived at amazed me: it looked like a colossal finger had carved a line on soft butter. The street was nearly two feet deep and more than 60 feet wide and completely smooth. Here and there elaborate walkways rose above it, like bridges over a river. A sense of ancient history shone from the tall stone buildings. The streets were full of bustle as a metropolis went on by its regular day.

As we walked the main road towards the inner walls and the palace, we saw that the architecture was a mixture of Cernish and Ellysian style. I remembered that the city was more than ancient and that Ellysians had once captured it from the primitive Cern tribes and later, when the Ellysians fell due to the Skyfall, the united Cerns sieged the city and conquered it. I recalled that these were the only times the city had been conquered. Even the Greenskin and Hillpeople hordes had never managed to conquer the great city.

Eventually we arrived at the inner wall gates and entered the Old Town where the palace was. The buildings inside the old town were even more curious: it looked like they had been built by people far more larger and taller that the Humans living in the city now. I thought about the stories about the Giant-kin and the mysterious Vod-hin who had once ruled Drystan.

We arrived at the palace gates and I approached the palace guards stationed at the gate. At first they seemed frustrated to get another curious person who wanted to enter the palace, but as I politely explained to them that I understood that they could not allow just anyone to enter the palace, especially at a time like this, but that I had an utmostly important message to Ross magh Connacht, whom I believed to be somewhere inside the palace. I told the guard that he should inform Ross magh Connacht that Magnus was waiting here for him with news. The guard said to wait and left. We waited for a while until the guard returned smiling and told me that Ross magh Connacht was not present at the moment. I was surprised to hear that he was not here. I pondered for a while and asked the guard to deliver the same message to Devin magh Keeth, who also knew who we were. The guard’s face suddenly got really serious as I mentioned Devin magh Keeth’s name. He said that he would do that and immediately left. Just a moment after that a group of palace guards arrived to reinforce the guards stationed at the gates. They were watching us, I thought.

Branden was visibly anxious of the crowded city and suspicious of everything, and as the guards massed at the gates he decided to quietly leave. I nodded at him and decided to stand still and wait. Branden disappeared into one of the streets near the square and four guards immediately began to follow him. I thought that I had nothing to fear since I was here with an honorable and good agenda.

The guards silently watched me as I waited for an answer. An hour passed and I was beginning to grow tired of waiting, when the guard returned and asked me to follow in. I was asked to leave my weapons at the gatehouse and I obeyed the guards wish. The guard led me inside the palace, through massive halls full of arguing clansmen, and eventually into a fireplace room with luxurious furniture. The guard asked me to wait yet again and left me alone in the room. I admired the craftmanship of the fireplace and for some reason it reminded me of my home and the furnace at the mac Dorwyn smithery. As I waited, I wondered how my brother was faring back home.

Eventually a tall fair haired noble man with a strict face entered the room. He was wearing a finely crafted armor and wore similar insignia as the palace guards. He introduced himself as Igraine magh Con and, just as I had expected, the Captain of the Palace Guards. He told me that Devin magh Keeth was busy with the negotiations and could not meet me at the moment. However, Devin magh Keeth had instructed him to guard us and keep us safe until he could meet us. This of course puzzled the Captain as I was alone while Devin magh Keeth had told him that there were five of us plus a possible escort. I explained to the Captain that actually there were two escorts, a prisoner found quilty of trying to intervene with our mission and one of our original members, Branden, was somewhere at large. Everyone else was waiting near the gates and we should get them safely to the palace as soon as possible.

Igraine magh Con furrowed his browns and said that he will send his men to fetch them and that I should accompany them. I agreed with him and left to get my friends from the gate. The guards marched to the gates in a strict formation and formed a protective ring around me and my friends. I explained to them that these guards were here to safely escort us to the palace.

We arrived to the palace without any incidents, handed Ferdiad, Davy and Rhoderick to Igraine magh Con and were instructed to a great hall where there were several important noble men and women discussing with each other. It seemed that there was a break in the negotiations and people had gathered into one the great halls inside the palace. As we arrived to the hall Devin magh Keeth quickly came to meet us. He asked us where was the young ranger who had been with us and I explained that he was somewhere in the city probably doing his own research. I asked Devin about Ross and he told me that he had disappeared four days ago and nobody knew where he was.

I began to tell Devin about our journey and everything that had happened and what we had found out. My story was cut short by a short noble man who joined our group. He was a bit chubby, wore a funny looking hat and an eye-patch. Devin introduced him as Percival magh Tidol, the Royal Treasurer and a member of the Lord Magister. Devin explained that Percival was the supervisor of the Crown’s Secret Service and thus the foreman of Ross magh Connacht. The man eyed us politely, though his every word seemed to drip with barely contained sarcasm.

I greeted the noble man accordingly and began my story from the beginning as I understood that this man probably already knew everything about the case we were dealing with. The two noble men listened silently to my story until I told them about the Servants of the Virtues of Corwynt and showed them the strange holy symbol I had retrieved from the cleric we had slayed.

‘’I faintly remember something about this. I think there once was a group of clergymen calling themselves as the Priory, but that group should be long dead,’’ said Devin.
‘’Actually, there is more into that. The Priory is actually a secret society within the Corwynttemples. It is a radical faction that believes theocracy to be the only legitimate regime. It is unsure whether the order still exists, although I wouldn’t put much, ehm, faith into that’’ Percival replied.

We wondered together about the motives of this new party and Percival rewarded us with a price of 100 silver pieces for our efforts for the Crown. Suddenly a group of guards approached Camil and told him that he should follow them. They explained that he was needed for questioning about his father’s crimes. We said farewell to Camil as we knew that the questionings might take a while.

As Camil left with the guards, a noble woman surrounded by all manner of courtiers. She stopped by us and greeted Devin and us. Devin introduced her to us as Caitlin magh Connacht, the wife of Robert magh Connacht. We greeted the lady who greeted us back: “So you are the ones I have heard so much about lately. You see, my husband and Ross talked at lenghts about the problems in the east. And knowing the brothers you could hear the discussions up to the heavens” The courtiers politely laughed at the lady’s joke. She bade us farewell and continued her way down the hall. After this Percival excused us and left for other appointments. We were left alone with Devin.

‘’What should we do now?’’ I asked the thane.
‘’Hmm… There is little to do without Ross. I suggest you try to find him. The last time I saw him he said he had a good lead on the whereabouts of Findley. Gods know what has happened to him,’’ the old thane said.
‘’We have no clues on where he might be. We’ll have to turn every stone there is to turn in this city,‘’ I replied.
’’You’re right, but without Ross we’ll have hard time catching up with the conspirators. He has probably found out something that has led him into trouble.‘’
I paused to think for a while and asked the thane: ’’Could we get a licence or an emblem of some sort to justify our search in the city? Currently we are just a group of friends and we might have trouble finding out anything without any significant status. We surely can’t go telling everyone that we’re working for the Crown’s Secret Service!’’
The wise noble man groomed his beard and seemed to ponder about something.

‘’Well, I could grant the status of a temporary sept of my clan to each of you, and this might help you. While my home province, Ffroth, is quite far away from Caern Môrn, my clans influence is quite strong,’’ Devin said. The thought of becoming a vassal to a respected noble clan of a thane had never occured to me and at first I was abashed of the sudden offer. I looked back at my friends, Aeran and Grzegorz, and saw from their postures that, while they did not want to seem ungrateful, they didn’t wish to commit that much. I turned back to Devin magh Keeth and without further pondering replied: ‘’I would be honoured to become a vassal of the magh Keeth clan.’’
‘’So shall it be then. I greet you Magnus mac Dorwyn as a sept of my clan,’’ the thane replied and handed me a penannular brooch with the insignia of the magh Keeth clan.
‘’Take this brooch as a symbol of my clan and your loyalty to it. Will you pledge to serve the magh Keeth clan and pursue its interests?’’
‘’I will,’’ I replied and removed my cloak pin and placed the magh Keeth brooch in its place.
‘’It is done then. Is there something else you need?’’ the thane said smiling.
‘’Well, there was this thing Ross had been making for me, a document. Would you happen to know about it?’’ Grzegorz suddenly asked the thane. I faintly remembered that there had been some problems with Grzegorz‘s Wizard Licence and that he had discussed something about it with Ross. I wondered what was the problem with them. Using magic without a proper licence was a crime punishable by death.
’’I’m sorry, only Ross knows about that thing. I can not help you,‘’ Devin replied. The strange wizard I had learned to trust and even consider as a friend lately seemed disappointed about this fact. Whatever the document was, it was something that would motivate him to find Ross.
’’If you could recommend a decent inn in the city where to lodge in, it would be nice,‘’ I asked my new sire.
’’There is a nice place called the Barmy Pig near the eastern outern wall. Not too shabby, nor a den of nobles’’ he replied, and just as we were leaving left us with a warning “Take care my friends: this is a vast city inhabited by people with vast desires. Take care, as even the walls have ears and the toes found within easilt take offense when trampled upon”.

We said our farewells to Devin magh Keeth, wished him luck with the negotiations, and decided to leave the palace. On our way out, however, we were interrupted by Igraine magh Con who told us that Lady magh Connacht wished to meet us in private. We followed the tall captain to a small garden within the courtyard where Caitlin was waiting for us. She greeted us politely, although always knowing her place as a high noble, and ours as mere freemen. After some small talk about the state of her all-too-little garden she went to the point.

‘’I have heard a lot about you from my husband and Ross and I already know that you have been assigned with the task of finding my dear brother-in-law,’’ the Lady said to us. I was not surprised to hear that she already knew that Devin was going to task us with the search of Ross.
‘’I have a task for you that might also help you find Ross magh Connacht,’’ she continued.
‘’Please tell us about it, milady,’’ I said to her.
‘’Yes of course. There is a young woman named Epona magh Morath, an uninspiring girl with little talent for anything. This woman, however, is the cousin of Ross and thus I have, as a favor to my dear brother-in-law, taken her to work for me as an abigail. This Epona and Ross are very close and Ross, who is very secretive about everything, tends to share almost everything with this simple girl,’’ the fair noble woman explained to us, walking around the inner garden gracefully and continued:

‘’She had always been a person of low moral fiber, and lately I’ve been suspecting she is also a thief. The things she’s been taking are of little value so I have not brought it up to my husband, who is a very bisy man. However, when Ross suddenly disappeared four days ago, this poor little girl panicked. She stole my most loved pendant, ran away, and is currently hiding somewhere within the city. I would like you to find out where she is and bring her AND my pendant back to me. She might also have some knowledge on the whereabouts of Ross. If you will do this for me, I’m willing to pay you a handsome reward of 500 silver coins for both of them: the girl and the pendant. This insolence must not go unpunished and the jewelry, while not valuable, has a special… sentimental value to me.‘’
’’We will do our best to find her. Is there something else we should know?‘’ I said to her.
’’Well, like I said, she isn’t one of the most finest ladies within the realm. I have understood that she has vices, expensive vices, as well as a sick grandmother who needs valuable herbs to sooth her ailments. Igraine will tell you the address of the grandmother. Please do not fail me’’ she said and and motioned for us to leave her. Igraine entered the garden and told us that the grandmother lived in the old town near the slums on a “Square of Shadow”, house number two.

We left the palace and decided to immediately go visit Epona’s grandmother. Grzegorz, however, wished to visit the library within the city’s monastery. We had heard this was the only city in Aenoria that had a monastery inside its walls – The White Monastery, and that it had an extensive library. We agreed to meet at the Barmy Pig in the evening and separated.

Me and Aeran found the old woman living where Igraine had told us. On our way I tried to keep my eyes open and spot Branden, but he was nowhere to be seen. I wondered what he was doing at the moment. Searching for the six riders maybe?

Epona’s grandmother welcomed Aeran and me inside as I told her that we were looking for her granddaughter and were worried about her. She seemed like a kind-hearted old lady, but unfortunately knew little of use. Epona had simple came home late one evening, told that she would be away for some time and handed her a purse of money. She allowed us to search Epona’s room and fortunately we found few clues from therein: a burnt piece of paper from the fireplace with the words ‘’…come visit… Lucky R…’’ and a round red token with a picture of a rat on the other side and the number 10 on the other. As we didn’t find anything else we thanked the old woman and made our exit. Before we left I blessed the elderly woman. While she seemed frail and elderly, nothing about her however indicated a need for expensive medication…

’’That’s a gambling token we found there. That name on the paper, Lucky R, could be the place. Lucky Rodent or Rat?‘’ Aeran said as we stepped out of the house.
’’You’re right. How about we go to the Barmy Pig, order a room, leave our travelling gear there, and ask about the Lucky Rat-Rodent thing,’’ I said and Aeran agreed.

We went to the Barmy Pig and found out that, indeed, there was a notorious gambling den in the Merchant Quartet called the Lucky Rat. Some of the patrons at the Barmy Pig murmured something about the Thieves Guild and advised us not to go there. Aeran and I agreed that we should go there later in the evening when there would be more people at the place. I told Aeran that I also wished to visit the library. Aeran desided to stay at the Barmy Pig.

The monastery was an impressive round building made of the whitest stone. A small donation bough me an access within. I met Grzegorz in the library. He was delving through different books about magic, history, Ellysian lore and other similar themes. He told me that he had found writings about the Mysterious Stone we had found and Geshtar had united. He told me that the stone used to be known as The Stone of Algernon and that it used to be some kind of a powerful artifact in the lost Ellysian city of Everon, from where it had been split into pieces and scattered around Eastern Drystan.

We chatted a while about the interesting information Grzegorz had found and then continued our own researches. I had carried the Ether Shards we had found for a while now and the idea of using them in enchanting eguipment had long fascinated me. I asked the monks to show me a book about weapon enchanting and I was given an old book made by a cleric smith like me long ago. I spent the afternoon reading the book and copied all the necessary information I needed. It looked like I would next have to
hunt down many assorted exotic ingridients in order to make magic items.

As few hours passed, Grzegorz and I were ready with our books and decided to return to the Barmy Pig. While we walked on the streets we were interrupted by a fine carriage. We saw the head of Percival magh Tidol come out of the carriage window.
‘’Greetings, my little friends! IThe little birds told me you got an assignment from Caitlin magh Connacht to catch that poor girl Epona,’’ the noble man said.
‘’Yes, that’s right. We believe she might have some knowledge on the whereabouts of Ross,‘’ I replied.
’’Well, yes she might, but I wonder whether returning to the enchanting lady Caitlin the only person who could lead us to Ross is the intelligent thing to do. She wasn’t her first servant and she won’t be the last, if you get my drift. When one is within a position high enough, one is also above most laws… I suggest that should you find her, you should give her to my care. While I cannot pay you as much as m’lady, I would reward you somehow and promise that she will get a fair trial’’

‘’I would not like to break my promise to the Watcher’s wife, but then again I would hate to deliver an young woman into excessive punishments. Could you arrange it so that when we arrive with Epona magh Morath your men would take her from us at the palace gate. Then we could simply say to Caitlin that your men took her from us?‘’ I asked the short noble man.
’’I shall arrange it so! Ta ta for now!’’ He said and ordered the carriage driver to continue forward.

We continued forward and arrived at the Barmy Pig. There we found Branden searching the tavern stables. He told us that he had gone through every stable in the city without finding the six riders. I asked whether he had visited the monastery as if the six riders were priests they might have gone there. Branden admitted that he had not gone there. I explained what had happened to me after he had disappeared and that currently we were following a lead into a gambling house called the Lucky Rat. I said that for his peace of mind we could visit the monastery before we would go to the Lucky Rat.

We fetched Aeran from the bar and headed back to the monastery. We did not find any horses nor did the monks know anything about any six riders. Branden asked us to look into the books and find out about some metaphores he had heard. We searched the books for a while and found out a similar reference Branden had heard during his journeys. The metaphor was the ‘Black Shores’ which in one context meant the ‘forecourt of death’. I saw the young ranger pale as he heard the translation. He refused to explain as I asked what was wrong. As there was little else to do in the monastery, we finally left to the Lucky Rat.

The Lucky Rat was a large red building by the southern wall. There were few shady looking persons hanging out near the door and a bouncer standing next to them. We approached the door and the bouncer opened it for us with a friendly smile. As we stepped in we saw a smoky gambling room with people ranging from rich merchants to lowly craftmen sitting on the tables playing dice poker. We glanced at each other and stepped further inside. Aeran approached the bar desk and asked the bartender about playing. The bartender nodded at him and gave Aeran a gambling token with a rat on the other side and the number 5 on the other. Apparently the mercenary was no stranger to gambling houses, as the man seemed right at home.

We watched as the mercenary stepped by one of the tables and challenged one of the rich merchants into a game of dice. The wages weren’t too big here, I thought, when I saw the merchant putting few silver coins on the table. As the game commenced I happened to notice that Grzegorz was mumbling something and his right hand was making strange gestures behind his back. I quietly accustomed my senses to magic and began to feel a magic aura near the dices on the table. As Aeran threw the dices on the table I felt the presence of a magical hand tipping one of the dices into a more favourable result for Aeran. The wizard was cheating for Aeran!

At first I was a bit shocked, but as I remembered that we were here to get information, I thought that winning might help us get to the higher league, the place where the rat token with the number 10 was used. I had never paid much attention on law and rule based morals, but focused more on my own feeling of what’s good and bad. In these circumstanses, I thought, a little bit of cheating was justified when seen through our bigger goals. Still the idea of unfair play didn’t feel right to me. Not that the lads seemed to mind…

It was obvious that Aeran won the rich merchant time after time and eventually the merchant gave up and left the table. We had certainly drawn attention to us and quite soon a waitress approached us and asked if we wished to play games with higher bets. We of course accepted the invite and followed the waitress into another room behind a red curtain that was guarded by another bouncer. As we stepped into the back room we saw wealthy merchants and noble men here and there playing against each other with high bets. The waitress guided us to sit next to one of the free tables in the room and told us that our opponent would arrive shortly.

We waited for a while before we were accompanied by a well dressed man who sat next to the table with us. I could smell wine from his breath across the table, though fine-clad the man was seriously drunk.
‘’Good evening gents. I am your host, Tudur. Feared by men, adored by women, loved by all. Haha! How about we begin with a warm-up game of… say 10 silver pieces?’’ Aeran said.
‘’Very well. We’ll play dice poker here with six dices,‘’ the enigmatic man said. His posture and way of sitting next to the table demanded respect.
’’Six dices, really?‘’ Aeran said.
’’Well, it is my house and I get to make the rules here. In addition each game reguires two wins to win the bet. Just to keep things interesting’’ the man said and we immediately realised that we had attracted the attention of the owner of the place and thus the leader of the local Thieves Guild.

The man placed his bet on the table and Aeran followed. The game began with us winning the first rounds easily. I sensed that Grzegorz meddled with the dices as much as he could. Tudur snorted at our good luck and discarded it as beginner’s luck.

‘’Ok, let’s cut to the chase. I know who you are and what you’re here for,‘’ the man said.
’’Really, you seem to know much then. Do you know what happened in Glenwathen recently,‘’ I asked him and referred to the death of the master of the local Thieves Guild there.
’’Belenus was a fool and an imbecile,‘’ the man disregarded my threat and continued, ’’the information you seek is something I have been paid to keep to myself. People come to me when they wish to dissappear. It would be really bad business to give away something like that.‘’
’’I would presume that everything has a price here?‘’ Grzegorz said in a silent soft tone behind Aeran.
’’Yes, you are correct, my dear lad! The good news is that it could be bought. The BAD news is that it could be bought… at a high cost’’ the Thieves Guild master replied.
‘’Well, what do you propose?’’ I asked the man.
’’Let’s make things interesting. We’ll gamble for it: you put a 500 silver bet and I put the information about Epona’s whereabouts. How does that sound?’’ The man said and groomed his beard sleazily. He might be a criminal and a drunk, but I doubted he was stupid. Luckily he was intoxicated, for I doubted he would put his reputation on line when sober.

We negotiated for a while and counted our pouches on whether we had such a sum to put on the stake. Eventually I had to put most of my money while the others put as much as they could to gather a pile of 500 silver coins on the table. I was really nervous about this. I had never owned that much silver in my life and had saved it up for quite a while already. Now I could loose it all in a single dice game. In my thoughts I scolded myself for being so thankful for Grzegorz and his cheating magics.

We agreed with the Thieves Guild master and placed our bet on the table. The game began and the first round was won by us without any questions. The second round was won by the Guild Master and I felt my hands getting moist from excitement. Luckily the third round brought us our second victory with Grzegorz tipping one of the dices to win the Guild Master’s full house. The Guild Master grunted and crossed his hands.
‘’Very well, you won. Never did like that Ross fellow. I hope you slit her throat. She is kept inside a small house by the Great Foundry, guarded by my men. I will order them to let you enter the house and she is all yours,’’ the Guild Master said.
‘’Thank you,’’ Aeran said and stood up from the table. He had played a fine game even without Grzegorz‘s tricks.
’’Heehehe, you weren’t willing to give the information cheap, but instead you gave it to us for free,’’ the dark robed wizard chuckled and left the Guild Master looking at him with a murderous gaze.

We left the gambling house immediately and proceeded to the house where the girl was being guarded. The word had already reached the shady thugs that were guarding the small stone house as they stepped aside and let us inside. We stepped inside and were greeted by a fierce young woman pointing a dagger at us.
‘’Stay away from me you bastards! Come any closer and your manhoods’ll be decoratin’ the walls!‘’ She yelled at us as she realised that we were not part of the Thieves Guild and that she had been betrayed.
’’Calm down, we wish you no harm,‘’ I said to the girl and showed my empty hands to her as a sign of peace.
’’That bastard sold me to you didn’t he?‘’ She yelled at us.
’’Eheh, well, actually he gave your location for free,‘’ Grzegorz said.
’’What do you want from me?‘’ Epona asked hesitantly.
’’We’re friends of Ross magh Connacht and are looking for him. We believe you might have some information on his whereabouts,‘’ I explained. Aeran and Branden looked inside the house to see if everything was alright. They had stayed outside to guard the front and back entrances to the house.
’’You’re Ross’ friend, huh? Well that’s the reason I’m hiding here. I have been working as an undercover agent for Ross magh Connacht for a while now, keeping watch of the Watcher‘s court, and I happened to find some aggravating evidence on the corruption of Lady magh Connacht. For some time now, she has been secretly supporting the separatist radicals in the province of Pynwedd. I was just about to tell Ross about this when he suddenly trusted me with an item he had not dared to show to anyone else. Right after that he disappeared and, unsure what to do, I decided to steal Lady magh Connacht’s pendant, and the secret message it carried that proved her part in the coming rebellion, and went into hiding,‘’ the young woman explained hardly taking a breath while she talked.
’’So you don’t excactly know where Ross is then?‘’ I asked.
’’No, he said he was on to something, and that he just had to double-check something in the monastery’’ she said and looked around to see if there was any way she could escape.
‘’What was the item he gave you for safe-keeping?’’ I asked her.
‘’Why would I give it to you?’’ she replied and frowned at me.
‘’It might help us find Ross. He’s been gone for several days already and the chances of him being found alive probably lessen by the minute,‘’ I reasoned with the brown haired woman.
’’Well… alright then,‘’ she said and revealed a small wooden box from one of the drawers in the room and gave it to me.
’’I’m not exactly sure what’s in it. Ross told me not to open it,‘’ she said.
’’Let’s see,’’ I replied and examined it. I tried to sense magic in the box and felt a weak signature in whatever was inside it. Without further pondering I opened the box, thinking that Ross would have probably told Epona if the box was trapped.

Inside the box we found an old scroll with the following text written on it in old Ellysian:

How strange are the manuscripts of this Friend,
great traveller of the unknown, they appeared to me separately,
yet they form a whole for him who knows that the colours of the rainbow give a white unity.

Of the four purest elements, that one which at the end claims us shows the way.
Dreamers, seers and builders hide that which is hidden in plain sight.

I Spear

During my testing pilgrimage I tried to clear
a path with the sword crossing the inextricable vegetation of the woods,
I wanted to reach the residence of the sleeping BEAUTY in whom certain
poets saw the QUEEN of a past realm.
The King Conqueror’s totem was unmade by a lad
Even Rodgar’s finest who made it couldn’t make it whole.

II Firelord

This Friend, how to introduce him to you? His name remained a
mystery, but his number is that of a famous seal. How to describe him to you?
His beasts of prey stand vigilant at the tyrant’s court.
The babes of Arla were taken that day, later laid to rest by the Protector’s feet.

III Maiden

Cursing the profaners in their ashes and those who live
in their tracks,leaving the abyss where I was plunged in finishing
the gesture of horror: BY THISSIGNYOUSHALLCONQUER!
I took a stand: from my right rose the eye of Tethos, to my left it sunk.
The Boy who stood guarding it left his Mother grieving.

IV Lightning

Returning then to the white hill, the sky having opened its
gates, it seems there is a presence near me, the feet in
the water like him who has just been baptised, turning myself again
towards the east facing me I saw unrolling without end, his coils,
the enormous REDSERPENT cited in the parchments, salty and bitter,
the enormous beast unleashed became at the foot of this white hill, red with anger.
These were twins, I made them into one.
He whose name has been erased from history led us fall.
Had he manned his post, the Exodus never would have happened.

At last I stood within the Eye of the Element.
Seek its symbol.

I immediately copied the text and closed the scroll back into the box. None of us had any idea what the words really meant. A riddle of somekind? We figured that we might have to ask Devin about this. Whatever the words meant, it was probably the thing Ross had been looking into.

We decided to leave the place with Epona and go to Devin. We agreed to meet near the gates of the inner walls as I prepared a distraction on the main street side of the house while the rest of the group disappeared into the alleys through the back door. I plunged out of the front door and imbued myself with a growth spell, enlarging myself into a towering giant, and cast small bolts of fire into the sky. While I felt extremely embarrassed for doing such circus antiques, I surely draw the attention of everyone nearby, hopefully allowing my friends to silently disappear into the alleys.

I eventually let my form shrink back to its original size and began walking to the inner wall gates taking a slight detour so that my destination would not be that obvious to anyone paying attention to me. I found the rest of the group waiting near the inner wall gates hiding in one of the alleys. We discussed what to do next and figured that Epona might run into trouble if we went back to the palace with her. Thus we decided to let her go and agreed that if we wished to get into contact with her, we would paint a white cross on one of the roofs near Barmy Pig tavern. Epona gave us the pendant containing the secret correspondence of Caitlin magh Connacht and said farewell to us.

I removed the small letters from the secret compartment within the pendant and closed them inside my scroll case. After that we walked straight to the palace and left a message to Devin, who was busy with the negotiations, that we had urgent information for him and waited at the Barmy Pig. After that we quickly visited Lady magh Connacht and gave her her pendant back. We apologised the fact that Epona had gotten away, but I somehow felt that she did not buy our explanation. She seemed awfully surly as we visited her and almost instantly asked us to leave.

As the night had already fallen and we were all tired, we returned to the Barmy Pig, rested, and waited for Devin to contact us.

Day 52

31st of Giamonios, 1270

We were waked up in the small hours by a messenger of the palace guards who told us that the negotiations had ended for the day and Devin was waiting for us to visit him immediately.

We readied ourselves and hurried to the palace where we were taken to a private room where Devin was waiting for us. He seemed weary and exhausted and we figured that the negotiations were not easy. It was no wonder, the northern provinces were in turmoil and the clans, who should be sticking together, were quarreling against each other.

We explained what we had found out and gave Devin the box with the strange scroll inside. The old thane seemed to find something familiar in the scroll and presumed that it had something to do with the the Priory and its hidden sanctuary within the city. He recalled a legend that there had been a great architect who had built a sanctuary for the Corwynt temple, but had also made a trick by building a secret back entrance into the sanctuary. This back entrance had been left as a secret to everyone, but it was rumoured there were instructions to the entrance hidden somewhere. Other than that he had little else to tell us about the scroll, but advised us to search the library for information. We also told about Epona and the things she had found out and gave him the secret correspondence of Caitlin magh Connacht. He was upset to heard that the Watcher‘s wife was mixed up in such outrageous activities and seemed sorry for having to tell Robert magh Connacht about the fact. What Lady magh Connacht had done was high treason, and the only punishment for it was death. While we were discussing about the effects of Caitlin’s treachery, Branden grew tired and interrupted us with a question about the six riders. The Captain of the Palace Guard had promised to look out for six heavily armoured riders with a fair haired girl with them. Unfortunately for Branden, Devin told him that there had been no signs of such a group. We left the original scroll to Devin and left the tired thane to get some rest.

Without much else to do, we immediately headed to the monastery where the monks, who followed a strict seremonial schedule, had already woken up and greeted us welcome to the library. The rest of us drew the attention of the monks while Branden slipped away to investigate the monastery. He searched everywhere he could, but found nothing special. There was a basement with a brewery and a wine storage there, but no secret entrances or signs of the six riders the ranger was zealously looking for.

While Branden was doing his research we asked the monks whether Ross magh Connacht had been visiting the monastery and indeed the monks remembered that he had come the library several times, but suddenly stopped to visit. We asked whether they remembered who had counselled him as we knew from experience that everyone who visited the library had to take a personal escort with him. The monks remembered that Ross had been aided by an old monk who rarely advised anyone anymore.

As Branden returned and joined us, we were guided to the old monk who was preserving some old manuscripts in his room. He remembered Ross visiting him several times, and everytime he had studied Ellysian history, early Cernish writings and the city’s map. He wondered what we wanted and I showed the text I had copied from the old scroll Epona gave us. The old man nearly dropped out of his chair as he saw the text. He said that it was an old riddle on the whereabouts of the secret entrance to the sanctuary once built for an old Temple Cult. He knew that the monastery, which was built from the stones of a destroyed Ellysian academy, had been built in the same era as the sanctuary and probably by the same architect. The old monk had no clear idea on the puzzle, but was sure that it was closely tied to the monastery building and its library. We wondered the text for a while and took a short tour around the building. We found four large murals in the building and a large map of the city.

We wondered for hours, asking dozens of questions from the old monk, who knew quite a lot about the city’s history. Despite the numerous stories he told and the descriptions of the different locations in the city, which he could show us from the large city map, we did not get much further. We drew few connections between the text and the locations on the city map and visited them, but learned nothing new. The only interesting point we found out was that the old city map, that had been made few years after the Cerns took the city from the Ellysians, was very accurate even today: few things had changed after the Cerns rebuilt the city to their liking.

We were about to give up when I remembered that the original scroll had a magical aura on it. We hurried back to the palace and recovered the scroll from Devin. As Grzegorz and I examined the scroll further, we noticed that the text was only partly magical! I copied the magical part of the text:

Of the four purest elements, that one which at the end claims us shows the way.
Dreamers, seers and builders hide that which is hidden in plain sight.

I Spear

The King Conqueror’s totem was unmade by a lad
Even Rodgar’s finest who made it couldn’t make it whole.

II Firelord

His beasts of prey stand vigilant at the tyrant’s court.
The babes of Arla were taken that day, later laid to rest by the Protector’s feet.

III Maiden

I took a stand: from my right rose the eye of Tethos, to my left it sunk.
The Boy who stood guarding it left his Mother grieving.

IV Lightning

These were twins, I made them into one.
He whose name has been erased from history led us fall.
Had he manned his post, the Exodus never would have happened.

At last I stood within the Eye of the Element.
Seek its symbol

We dashed back to the library and began to crack the mystery with new vigor. Once the huge amount of misinformation had been removed, the text connections to the map began to make more sense to us. It took us few hours of thinking until we finally cracked the puzzle:

Of the four purest elements, that one which at the end claims us shows the way

Grzegorz knew quite a lot about alchemy and he knew that the four elements were major parts in it and they all had a symbol of their own. The symbol this one referred was, of course, Earth, and its symbol was a triangle with its point facing down with a line running through this lower point.

Dreamers, seers and builders hide that which is hidden in plain sight

This was the element of Air and its symbol was similar to the symbol of fire except that its tip pointed up.

I Spear
The King Conqueror’s totem was unmade by a lad
Even Rodgar’s finest who made it couldn’t make it whole.

The King Conqueror referred to the Ellysian king Aerimier, who had conquered the eastern part of the continent. His friend and armourbearer, Elyndir, had betrayed him and tried to kill him in an ambush. The king survived, but his spear, that was the symbol of his family, was shattered. Legends say that the spear had been made in the great furnace of Caern Môrn, a former temple of the Ellysian forge-god Rodgar.

This led us to the map point of the furnace.

II Firelord
His beasts of prey stand vigilant at the tyrant’s court.
The babes of Arla were taken that day, later laid to rest by the Protector’s feet.

The Firelord is great red bird and an Ellysian symbol of power. The Tyrant referred to Isvafton, a tyrant that was dethroned by Egornael, the mythical finder of the Ellysian Empire. Isvafton’s throne was decorated with these red birds.

Arla was the father of Egornael and legends say that Isvafton captured her and murdered Egornael’s mortal siblings. Later the bones of these babies were brought to rest by the feet of the Ellysian goddess of protection, Linuatar. In the Old Town Hall there was a statue of Nimue that some believed was originally a statue of Linuatar. Here we found another mark on the map.

III Maiden
I took a stand: from my right rose the eye of Tethos, to my left it sunk.
The Boy who stood guarding it left his Mother grieving.

Tethos was the Ellysian most important deity, the sun god. In the Ellysian mythology the sun was his right eye. The boy referred to Ildor who was the guardian of the Sun Gate – when the sun goes through the gate the night falls. Nefeirith, the goddess of night, tried to catch the sun before it could reach the gate and avoid disappearing into the darkness of the night. Ildor, however, stood by the gates and protected the sun from Nefeirith sacrificing his life in the process. Ildor’s mother, Catya, was left grieving for his dead son.

This boy stood by a gate where he saw the sun rise from his right and sink into his left. The only gate in the city where this was possible was the southern gate. This gave us our third point and we could already draw a triangle on the map.

IV Lightning
These were twins, I made them into one.
He whose name has been erased from history led us fall.
Had he manned his post, the Exodus never would have happened.

When the Cerns re-took the city after the Skyfall had weakened the Ellysian Empire, the city fell because the captain of the Ellysian Guards was drinking in the Westerner tavern while he should have been in the fortress now known as the Victory Keep.

This gave us two points which were the twins. When we connected them into one by drawing a line between them, we produced the final line that finished the symbol of the element Earth.

Finally, Grzegorz knew that in alchemy terms the Eye of the Element referred to the tip of the symbol that was left separated by the crossing line in the symbol.

The place that was left into the eye of the element we had pictured on the map was the Green Rose Inn.

The day was still young even though we had spent several hours cracking the puzzle. We immediately rushed to the Green Rose Inn. There were quite a few patrons in the inn drinking ale. We looked around and thought that the bartender would probably not let us investigate his bar for ‘’Secret back entrances to a sanctuary of an old Temple Cult’‘. I began to think of different ways how we could talk ourselves into searching his house when suddenly I saw an ale mug flying straight into the face of a strong looking thug from a table where a lonely farmer was sitting. I wondered why the farmer had thrown his mug at the thug but saw that the farmer was as dumbfound as I was. When I turned around to look at my friends I saw Grzegorz smirking devilishly.
’’Let’s go,’’ the wizard said as a bar fight bursted in the room. The bartender immediately plunged at the fighters trying to break the fight. We had no trouble slipping into the back room.

We quickly found a staircase leading to a basement that was filled with beer barrels. After a quick search we found a stone wall with a small symbol of Air carved into it. We wondered for a while before I figured that maybe the symbol of air needed air into it and puffed air at it. As I did that, a silhouette of a door appeared on the wall and it opened. We saw circling staircase going down straight in front of us. Without further hesitation, we stepped in and began going down.

The stairs took us quite deep underground until it ended into a straight passage. We continued forward, Branden taking the lead. The continued for a few dozen feets and ended into a wall with a small symbol of air carved on it. Branden puffed air at the symbol and a similar door appeared and opened in front of us. We arrived into a small chappel with six niches with the statues of the six gods of Corwynt placed in the. The door which we entered the room appeared behind the statue of Teutanis. I saw this as a good sign. The room had several candles illuminating it: a sign that the place was inhabited.

There was a door in the room that led us into another passage. Branden scouted the tunnel and returned to inform us that there was a cone-shaped hall with four priests sitting by a table. We made a quick battle plan in case they they turned out to be hostile and proceeded forward. I entered the room, with Aeran by my side while Branden and Grzegorz stayed behind us, and greeted the sitting priests. They immediately rose from their seats and as soon as they saw us they drew their weapons and began chanting spells. This, however, was something we had anticipated and I quickly cast my own spell to interrupt them. A fiery ball of fire plunged from my hands and exploded amidst the priests setting their robes in fire and blowing them towards the table in the middle of the room. Right after my spell, Branden let loose a pair of keenly aimed arrows piercing the throat of one of the priests.

I watched as the priest held his bleeding throat and collapsed on the ground. I heard as the holy symbol of Corwynt tinkled against the stone floor. I felt a sudden grief as I understood that we were killing fellow brothers of Corwynt. The thought confused me for a while, but then I remembered that these men belonged to a treacherous cult within the clergy. Whether the cult was evil or not was a thing I did not know, but in my heart I felt that the ones who wished to pact with such a power hungry organisation must have corrupt and twisted morals much like the overly-zealous abbess Angharad we had met in the Rhaynder Valley.

Aeran plunged at the priest with his sword, but was blocked by a large sword held by one of the robed mens – he was a paladin, I realised. The paladin Aeran had confronted began hacking him with vigorous smithing blows that nearly cut the mercenary down. Luckily Grzegorz blasted a fiery ray of fire straight into the face of the paladin killing him instantly. The battle continued as I joined Aeran’s side to fight the two remaining cultists – a thing I wished to view them as. There seemed to be another paladin amongst the robed men who cut Aeran down. I quickly healed the mercenary who continued to fight as soon as he stood up. Suddenly more priests emerged into the room from a side door in the hall and closed in on us. Their charges were cut short by a web spell by Grzegorz.

After smashing the other priest near the table, I decided to confront the new comers and leave Aeran to take care of the last paladin who was by the table. As I closed the priests who were trapped in the web spell, I was shocked to notice that one of them was Rhoderick who was in good shape and clad in armour. How could he be here? We had left him into the dungeons of the palace! I walked right next to the web spell and began casting a spell at the furiated priests entangled in them. Behind me I heard vigorous fighting as Aeran was duelling with the paladin and as I turned I saw that another priest had emerged from the other side of the room and was chasing Grzegorz. Branden had trouble piercing the armour of this new assailant with his arrows.

Finally I completed my spell and launched a cone-shaped burst of fire at the priests entagled in the web. I saw them scream as the fires burnt their skin. The web around them bursted into flames further burning them. The flames settled down quickly and I saw that the priests were still alive. Rhoderick seemed really annoyed by my trick and casted a healing spell at his friend. As I realised that they would just heal each other if I didn’t interrupt them, I charged at them enlarging myself in the process. My huge hammer smashed one of the priests into a bloody pulp and blocked the futile attack of the other priest. Rhoderick tried to cast a spell on me but I easily resisted it.

I quickly looked around to see what the situation was and saw that Aeran was still duelling with the paladin and Grzegorz and Branden were having trouble with the priest who was chasing them. I still had Rhoderick and the other priest fighting against me, but felt certain that I could beat them – I had hardly taken a scratch during the fight so far. I was just about to land my hammer into a finishing blow against the other priest who was busy healing Rhoderick, when Rhoderick cast another spell against me. I felt the spell beginning to affect me. It was not that powerful, but somehow it froze my body and my strike was paused mid-air. I could not move a finger and I was infuriated with it. I was so close!
‘’Keep them busy, you will be rewarded in the after life,’’ Rhoderick hissed at the other priest and ran away. The other priest began to stab me with his dagger while I was immobile and watched Rhoderick flee through one of the door in the hall. I cursed our bad luck as the villain jammed the door behind him. Just as the albino priest escaped the spell that had thawed me still ended. I unleashed my frustration on the surviving priest and hit him several times with my hammer. Eventually Aeran plunged to help me and struck the priest down. I looked around and saw that all the cultists had been slain.

I immediately ran to the door Rhoderick had stucked and began to force it open. It was closed so well that it took me a long while to get open – enough for the pale skinned villain to surely escape and disappear. While I pounded the door, my fellows searched the two rooms that were next to the cone-shaped hall. In the other room they found a fine guest room with Ferdiad and Davy sitting in there all oblivious to the fact that they had actually been kidnapped by these priests who had been so friendly to them. The other room turned out to be a prison where we found Ross all beaten up and shackled. We freed him and I healed most of his wounds.

It turned out that the fair ’’mare’’ had also been here with Ferdiad and Davy, but that she had been taken away few days ago. When we wondered how the albino priest had escaped and safely escorted our prophet away, Ross told us that the only one, with enough influence and information on the fact, who could have done it was Percival magh Tidol, Ross’ superior. This was grave news. We had an enemy who part of the Lord Magister. There was no way we could accuse him of anything without proper evidence: we would just have to play a long and pretend that we didn’t know anything about his share in the treachery.

Ross explained that before he go caught he had found a leak in the chain of information towards the Lord Magister and caught him red-handed. From the leak he had acquired the scroll that contained the old riddle. When he had began to investigate it, he was assaulted on an alley, knocked unconscious, and brought into the dungeon.

The last few days had been hectic: we had ran around the city, solved an ancient puzzle, and confronted the conspirators of the Priory. Where this all would lead us, I did not know, but one thing was certain: the six swords had been taken out of their sheaths.